Christian List is Professor of Philosophy and Political Science at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Fellow of the British Academy.
In Why Free Will Is Real, List does as advertised, advancing
a novel, intriguing view of free will and making a thoughtful case
for the thesis that free will, as he conceives of it, is real. This
book is a pleasure to read. -- Alfred Mele, Florida State
University
An original and challenging new contribution to contemporary
debates about free will. After making a compelling case for the
irreducibility of different explanatory levels of reality,
Christian List argues that free will requires indeterminism at the
psychological level of explanation, but not at the physical level,
where it is compatible with determinism. His arguments in support
of these claims address a host of potential objections and include
insightful appeals to new developments in the logic of agency and
branching time, among other novel arguments. -- Robert H. Kane, The
University of Texas at Austin
Many philosophers have suggested that we may be causally determined
at the neurophysiological level, but not at the psychological. List
is the first to work out a detailed proposal of how this might
work, and of how it can underpin an account of free will.
Developing ideas from theories of causation and of counterfactuals,
it provides an incisive and accessible introduction to contemporary
thinking about how we might be free in a causally-determined world.
-- Richard Holton, University of Cambridge
Accessible, clear and convincing...List's carefully crafted
argument may help many of us sleep more soundly, being further
assured that we can choose how to live our own lives. -- Ellie
Lasater-Guttman * LSE Review of Books *
List argues that free will is not explained away through science by
looking at the activity in our brain...A wonderful defense of free
will accessibly written for readers new to the topic. * Library
Journal *
Well argued and admirably sets out the challenges to free will
that, when coupled with its clarity, make it an excellent gateway
into the contemporary free will debate. -- Logan B. Weir * Review
of Metaphysics *
A fresh defense of the existence of free will against those of its
skeptics who claim that free will has no place within a
scientifically respectable worldview...There's much to admire and
recommend in List's book. It's pithy, clear, and well-organized
while managing to provide highly original and thought-provoking
arguments. -- James Goodrich * Journal of Moral Philosophy *
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